Episode 236

Sword and Scale contains adult themes and violence, and is not intended for all
audiences. Listener discretion is advised. The whole time he's hitting me with a
knife, stabbing, he was looking at places to knife me to children,
and he won't stop. Just got stabbing and stabbing and stabbing. He's gonna
kill me. Hello and welcome to season ten, episode two hundred and thirty
six of Sword and Scale, the show that reveals that the worst monsters are
real. Well, we have a new show. It's called Sword and Scale
Nightmares. In case you haven't heard about it for some reason. I don't
know why, but you can only get it on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and
a few other places, but not You're on Plus. So head on over
there right now. It's free, you don't have to pay anything, and
you can listen today. Have you ever said a prayer? Have you ever
avoided walking under a ladder to spare yourself a little bad luck? Have you
ever followed the guidance of your daily horoscoper taken extra precautions on Friday the thirteenth?
If you answered yes to any of these questions, then your actions demonstrate
the power of blind or unquestioned faith for better or worse. Our beliefs have
a tendency to drive some of our behavior, and it can often explain why
we do certain things. In many cases, this correlation between belief and behavior
is pretty harmless. After all, So what if you picked up that supposed
lucky penny you found on the ground, And so what if you throw it
in a wishing well and made a wish? Who is it hurting? Unfortunately,
not all superstitious and faith based beliefs lend themselves to innocuous or trivial behavior.
Some beliefs, especially when they are extreme, can be pretty dangerous.
An extreme belief might lead a person to refuse life saving medical treatment or deny
their children that same treatment. A strongly held belief might cause someone to develop
a deep hatred for another person or even a group of people. I'm assuming
you have Twitter follow me by the way at Sword and Scale. A hardened
and unquestioned belief can even provide someone with a justification they're looking for to commit
murder. In twenty eighteen, fifteen year old Kyle Bancroft was with his mother
and younger brother at their home in the tropical balin Isisles community, a private
club in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, in the early morning hours of March
twelfth. Kyle was fast asleep in this bed when he awoke to the sound
of someone yelling Ray. When I woke up, I got out of my
room where I heard screaming. I'm not screaming, but yelling. I'm kind
of yelling yelling from the police officers. Okay, I'm like a PA system
or something. It no, no, from like they were in our house.
So there's like ten of them. After these loud police commands echoed throughout
his home, Kyle pulled himself out of bed to see what all the commotion
was about, and when he stepped out of his bedroom, he unexpectedly came
upon a chaotic and bloody scene. So I just stayed in my bed for
a minute, and then I went out. I went to the loft and
I saw my brother on the floor, and I how much of the blood
marks are stain marks of blood around it? And like, what the heck?
And then I'd look over and I see like punch a police officers and
they tell me put my hands in the air. Then they put me on
the ground and cussim. So you went downstairs. They said, come here
with your with your hands up, and then and then they've handcuffed me,
pumbing on the floor. And then Kyle told police that he found his younger
brother, thirteen year old Dane Bancroft, lying on the floor covered in blood.
Kyle could barely process what he was seeing before heavily armed police officers through
Kyle to the ground and handcuffed him. And where was his blood coming from?
Like? What was his injuries? I didn't see. I only had
they a quick glance kind of So if you were to guess, was it
from his hand with his leg? Who was bleeding on him? I'm not
too sure. I thought I thought it was just like thoroughly, I'm not
sure, but to put blood? What was he doing? Was he there
was laying there? Was he like he's just laying there, face facedown,
facedown, not moving, but like as if he looked at he was sleeping
and blowed over the floor over him. Yeah, yeah, I don't know.
I was going on. So okay, So you didn't hear anything or
saw anything prior to that, you will go up into the loft and there
was somebody on the floor with blood. The last thing you saw was he
was on the floor and there was blood marks all over the place. Where
were the other kids? I didn't know where anyone else was. I just
saw my brother. There was, of course, a reason that police were
inside Kyle's home. Earlier that same morning, Kyle's neighbors had placed a frantic
and frustrated call to nine one nine. A moment the others the immergency on
beach Guards was battling out of myself. I do you know why? She's
bled? She says, somebody attacked him. But you got to get somebody
at quick. I called it Alan Niles. But then I hear you,
okay, I'm going to get help. Started that way, but I need
to know if there's any weapons or anything. She doesn't have any weapons.
She says there's a killer outside. I don't know what she's talking about it.
She's hilarious. He had a knife. He had a knife. How
long ago did this happen? How long of those has happened? A few
minutes ago? She's bleeding like crazy? You got I'm already starting to help.
I need to know what the person, what the knife is. I
don't know where he is. I'm gonna need more information from that female.
Can I talk to her? No, she's hysterical. Before the fifteen year
old Kyle found his blood covered brother Dane, lying on the floor, and
before the police took Kyle into custody, Kyle's mom had staggered to their neighbor's
house. She was covered in blood, bleeding profusely, and explained to her
neighbor that a knife wielding killer had attacked her and her son. Even worse,
she also explained that both of her sons were still inside the house with
the attacker. Lady, I can't let you talk though. It just sends
somebody. Can I get a description or anything of the person that had a
knife. No, she's dying over there's a murderer here. You gotta get
somebody who murder. I'm not being helpful. I need to get information for
their assistance in helping you, okay, And the killer is he going around
that side? Lady bleeding? Unemployed here? And you want a description where
bleeding from? We stopped at the questions and get some help here. She
ranged my belt. He's bleeding. He's a murderer. I saw like you
know these questions you're asking me ridiculously. I'm trying to get the information.
Hello, I love this guy. These questions you're asking me are ridiculous.
What the caller was probably unaware of is something that I'm sure most S and
S listeners like yourself already know. The reason dispatch asks all these questions is,
of course, for the safety of the officers arriving at the scene.
I mean, the hell with the person that's bleeding on the ground. Cops
don't want to get hurt. After the police and an ambulance arrived on the
scene, Kyle's mom was rushed to a hospital. While lying in her hospital
bed, she was able to shed some light on what had happened. Kyle's
mom told police that her two teenage sons had invited friends over for a sleepover
the night before, and after everyone went to bed, she awoke to the
sounds of someone moaning in pain. Because I heard really loud, I realized
he's coming from the lack. What do you guys blink? How did you
guys up? Why dood he so much noise? Step? I'm trying to
sleep on Stop? What up? To see what the matter was? I
started going up the stairs and what s up? He going upstairs? Up?
What's going on here. He shut down the stair literally, but he's
this big kid, and he just went down the stairs world fast with a
knife in his hand and started knifing me. What kind of a knife?
I couldn't see the kind of I couldn't make out the knife because it didn't
look like a kitchen knife or a pocket knife or you don't you don't know,
I don't know. And he's much bigger than I am. Kyle's mom
claimed that one of her son's friends had attacked her and repeatedly stabbed her with
a knife. Who knew sleepovers could be so dangerous. The only reason that
she was able to get away, and the only reason that she was still
alive, was because her son, Dane, had stepped in to fight off
her attacker or her He came downstairs and he said, my mom, and
he started fighting, which allowed me to get out of the house and god
Xtlore practically crawling and asking for help. I mean, I was leading all
over. I thought I didn't know what was going to happen. I was
just going to get help. How many stab wounds do you have? Quite
a bit? Why backer barely gets to their neighbors while all of this was
happening. Fifteen year old Kyle Bancroft remained asleep in his bed. It wasn't
until the police arrived that he woke up, walked out of his bedroom,
and briefly saw his brother Dane, bloodied and unresponsive on the living room floor.
Then Kyle was handcuffed and taken into police custody. So you have no
idea what happened today, So you have no idea where you're here. I
know why I am here? Why? I know why? Can you tell
me why you're here? Just to live? We make sure. I just
want to make sure that jordanstand where in your that you're talking to a detective.
I don't want to say it, all right, So let's let's assume
that I know what you're talking about. If you were to guess what happened
last night, what do you think? I don't like? So I don't
want to say. But it's very important that you say it that you We're
not going to make you repeat it budget sciense, when it's very important for
you to tell me that we can finish this and go along and go forward
in our investigation. As the police continued their investigation, they came to learn
that when this violent and bloody attack happened, there were five people in the
home, Kyle, Kyle's mom, Kyle's brother, and two other teenagers.
Kyle's mom had been stabbed several times, but she did manage to escape the
chaos and get to safety. Thankfully, after she was taken to the hospital,
her condition stabilized and she ultimately survived the stabbing. As for Kyle,
he was taken into police custody and had somehow avoided being attacked at all.
Sadly, the same could not be said about the other teenagers that were in
the home. A knife wielding maniac had gone on a bloody rampage, fully
intent on stabbing everyone in the house to death as they slept at the end
of that rampage. Not everyone was lucky enough to make it out of this
violent and bloody nightmare alive. In the early morning hours of March twenty eighteen,
police were called to a home in Palm Beach Guard, Florida, after
the mother of that home ran to a neighbor's house and explained that a knife
wielding murderer had attacked her and one of her two sons. After the police
arrived, several people were either rushed to a hospital or taken into police custody.
One of those people was fifteen year old Kyle Bancroft. Kyle explained to
the police that he and his younger brother Dane, had two teenage friends over
the night before for a sleepover. And you had some friends over, okay,
and that's it. There's just them too, and you and my brother
and all right. So they were staying over just for the night, one
night to a night some night, one night. So you guys are sleeping
over. They were doing to sleep over at your house. You guys go
out, Leslie, guys go somewhere. Where'd you guys go? It's nearest,
Look, but my mom packed gotcha. Earlier that day, Kyle and
his brother had been down town celebrating a friend's birthday party. At some point
during the celebration, Kyle got a phone call from a different friend, seventeen
year old Corey Johnson, and during this phone call, Corey asked Kyle if
he wanted to hang out all right, so he called you what time you
think? What was like for? So he was at Polish Fine stuff and
he said, hey, meet me at downtown twards and then your mom picked
everybody up into the take everybody to your house. Kyle agreed to meet up
with Corey and they both ended up at Kyle's house for a sleepover. Once
there, Corey asked Kyle's mom if he could take a shower. You guys
went straight home, Yes, on an apple. When you guys got the
kids upstairs. I was downstairs, but he asked to take a shower.
If I said, he can, take sure there's a towel there, right.
Did you see him come out of the shower? You know, I
was in I was probably on a sting. Took a sharer and went back
up to during the voice, okay, do you remember what was going on
or what was being said upstairs? Any changing anything between the voice? Nothing?
I don't be ordinary. See they will do all the games. For
Kyle's mom, there seemed to be nothing unusual about this night. It wasn't
uncommon for either of her sons to have a friend spend the night. They
had had many sleepovers before. According to Kyle, the same was also true
for him. This seemed to be just a typical night. We just hung
out talking with certain music. So, um, Corey is your friend?
Like, okay, you guys go to school to go to each other.
You're known each other since pre k and Corey has always come to your house
and visit you wherever you live. Basically, I mean, yeah, we've
done many sleep programs. Okay, so you guys were hanging out listening to
music and all that stuff. I want you guys went to sleep a moment
to sleep, and what happened after? And my mom wants to see I
want to sleep her online in the morning, only a few hours after Kyle's
mom went to bed, her sleep was interrupted by some strange noises outside.
At first, she couldn't quite make out what she was hearing, but she
knew the sound was coming from inside her home. After sitting up and shaking
off her disturbed sleep, Kyle's mom realized that what she was hearing was someone
groaning in pain. Concerned and admittedly a bit frustrated, she stepped out of
bed and followed the sound in an attempt to find out what was happening and
woke up. So I was in the first floor. I went to look
up about a lot it was. It was coming from the law Chaivanni's money,
and I said, what are you guys doing up there. It seemed
to be around four or five months really early in that mone and and I
said, what are you guys doing up? What are you guys playing?
This is what's going on? Why are you so loud here? I asked
him to court to sleep. What was going on with the planks of what
was going on into the end, Corey, So go back into your room.
We're going to go to sleep. I'll take care of this. From
the upstairs loft, Kyle's friend, Corey Johnson shouted down at Kyle's mom.
He told her to go back to bed and assured her that the moaning would
stop. Kyle's mom then headed back toward her bedroom, but the painful moans
only grew louder. Sorry, walked back to my moman, I capturing the
moaning louder Yeah, I ran up the stairs to see what was wrong.
Kyle's mom raced up her stairs towards the loft, but before she could see
what was happening, Corey lunged at her with a large knife and began a
full on, meticulous attack. As he began stabbing Kyle's mom over and over
again and just stabbing the neck. And there was a struggle on the stairs.
He was kept stabbing me. When I got too flour on the stairs,
he kept stabbing me and I was fighting him like Corey stop, Corey
stop, why are you doing this? Why are you doing this? And
I kept fighting him and then he got my foot. I fell through the
ground. The whole time he was hitting me with a knife, stabbing,
he would just look at me, stare at me. He was looking at
spaces places to knife me, to kill me. He hit me here here,
he wept from my heart. He was hitting me here. I was
hitting me and my arm I didn't feel like I could punch anymore. I
was on the boy. I thought my arm was like just looking at contract
compare. I couldn't walk. He was gonna kill me and he won't stopped.
Just got stabbing of stabbing and stabbing. So you made it down the
stairs and he was still interacting with you. Did you make it back down
to the first floor? And I was fighting him on the stairs when I
was standing and I was trying to I was screaming at him like stop,
what are you doing? And I was fighting and I so you were loud,
Yeah, I was like stop, wherever are you doing? I mean,
I was loud, he was quite, he was he saying anything at
all, just focused on just killing me? And where did stabbing just quiet?
According to Kyle's mom, Cory's attack was methodical. Each stab seemed deliberately
placed, with the clear intent to quickly incapacitate her and ultimately kill her.
She likely would have died right then and there had her thirteen year old son
Dane not heard the commotion and then stepped in to fend off Corey. So
what made him stop attacking you, Dane? Well, when Dane came out
yelling, Mom, Mom, I think he said to Dane, I'm not
going to hurt you. I'm not going to stab you. The ming did
he said that? I think he's trying to get Dane after her night try
and then Dane bottom and basically Dane and Dane was fighting. Was that downstairs?
After Corey and Dane began fighting, Kyle's mom was able to flee.
She ran to a neighbor's house and frantically began ringing the doorbell and banging on
the door. Mom, Mom, Mom, And he just tapped him when
I was on the floor, and then they started struggling and moving in the
other direction. And corn wasn't facing me. I had just bottom my head.
You need to run and get help. And I got out the door,
and I had trouble walking, but I got there as best I could.
To the neighbor. The doorbell rang. I went to the doorbell.
I looked out through the glass and there was a woman slatched over the bleeding
from her arms of bloody, the lakes of bloody. I opened the door.
He said, what happened? She said, I got stabbed. She
said, my boys are there. I said, well, let me get
an ambulance first. Then I saw one of the boys. The neighbor called
nine one one, and as he waited for help to arrive, he saw
thirteen year old Dane emerge from her home. Dane had also been stabbed several
times and was completely covered in blood. Then I saw one of the boys
come out of the from the backyard. This is metal. What was he
wearing your member? He was so full of blood. I didn't see any
clothes on. He might have shorts on good. He had nothing on the
top or his arms from back there, and he was bloody from from where
blood his face, his back. He turned his back. He's full of
blood. After the police and emergency services arrived. Kyle's mom was taken to
the hospital. As she was being treated, she was questioned by the police
who were still trying to piece together what had happened and why. So,
from what I understand, they're trying to figure out right now because Corey locked
himself in your house or inside of bedroom, so they had to deal with
it for a little while to get him out. So so do you know,
I mean, what would have had Corey do something like this? Do
you I don't know what was everybody doing when you went to bed? Do
you remember getting ready to bed? So you don't know what happened or what
caused him. Was there any fighting or anybody arguing last night prior to going
to bed? Everybody to what was everyone doing when you went to bed?
They were upstairs. I didn't see anything on you. Have you ever seen
this side of Corey, like where he would hurt you or cos he's hasty
problems? Um, I guess he's just making comments about Muslim things and seventeen
year old Corey Johnson had recently taken up a very intense interest in Islam,
and according to his friend Kyle, Corey was extremely committed to this religious ideology
and then he apprecies every morning. I don't know what he says. I
mean, I've seen him many times to do it, but I just mind
my own business. And what is it consistent? So he has he puts
something now on a floord and what he does, what does he do?
He just I don't know. He just like the Muslim prayer. I don't
know, okay, I mean, what have you seen him do it?
Does it look like like he kneels down? Yeah? Anyone else down gets
up? Crosses are different things and like whispers something? Yes? So is
it a different language? Yeah? And Kyle told the police that this wasn't
the first time that Corey had developed an interest and became committed to a potentially
dangerous ideology. Before practicing Islam, Corey had been parroting the anti Semitic and
authoritarian views of the Nazis. It seems that for Corey, any belief was
just fine as long as it was extreme. You said, you known Corey
for nine nine years for something, and what do you think about him?
Uh, He's always been not always, but he's been off of time.
What kind off when you say off? What it like his police system something.
Can you elaborate on that? Can you tell me what? What?
What does that mean when you say belief system? What does that? What?
Do you refer to Arabic beliefs systems with Nazi belize systems? Or that
he used to believe Nazi Nazi He used to believe that he used to believe
in that. Now he believes in Arabic stuff, like what type of Arabic
stuff like isis? Yes? Yes? Does he ever try to get you
to believe the same thing? Yeah? He has. According to Kyle,
these beliefs that Corey had developed did not come from his parents or any other
adult. They were ideas that he simply stumbled upon on the good old,
glorious Internet. What a wonderful place it is. Does his parents know that?
Do you know his parents parents? Do they know that he does all
this stuff? That he's into the stuff? Yeah? It's a long stems.
Are they into it too? No? Just Islamic stuff, the isis
and all the stuff. What do you think about it? I mean I
don't agree with that? Yeah, okay. Kyle and Corey had known each
other since before kindergarten, and while they didn't always attend the same school,
they remained friends. When questioned, Corey also confirmed that he and Kyle had
remained close for many years. In fact, Corey claimed that Kyle was his
only friend. I can't imagine why. So he went to school together for
a while and then him. There was a place called a ABC. Honestly,
there was a daycare. I don't know it's still around. I met
a band. What are you in now? You're role now? Anyway?
I was in eleventh grade, duire, but I dropped out the Corey Johnson
had come from a somewhat broken family. His parents were divorced, and Corey
didn't get along with his mom's new boyfriend. Corey first drew concern and attention
to himself while in middle school, where he made anti Semitic and anti homosexual
statements and also admitted to holding beliefs similar to the KKK. By age seventeen,
Corey had dropped out of high school, got a job as a grocery
store stock boy, and was living a kind of nomadic life, bouncing from
one bed to another nearly every night. When Corey couldn't find a comfortable place
to sleep, he'd usually spend his nights inside an old abandoned plaza. I
haven't let home about maybe a week or so. I've been sleeping different places.
Sometimes I slept it sunset where I got arrested, and sometimes I slept
One time I slept at my grandma's house, and all the other times I
slept it. I broke into this abandoned plaza. As he was being questioned,
Corey confirmed many of the things that the others had already told police.
He admitted that he actively practiced Islam, and that he had picked up this
ideology from things he had read and watched online. You practice Islam, you
follow it? Yes, to what extent fully? Okay, how does that
work? I'm not summary to go to a mosque. Do you contact somebody
locally when I used to go to a mosque? Maybe? So? Um?
You say, fully? What does what does that mean? As opposed
to like, uh, just dropping in? What's the difference. There's some
people that claiming to the muscle and they they just to the extent that they
maybe don't eat pork and they don't drink. I don't do any of that
time at best. So you read the Koran, you follow the tenants?
Okay? Um? Are you the only one in your family. How did
you get into that? I got into it online. There are a lot
of things you can say about Corey Johnson, but you certainly can't call him
a liar. When questioned by the police, Corey was especially straightforward with them.
He told them all about his strongly held beliefs, and he also told
them that these beliefs landed him on the FBI's terrorist watch list. Well,
we used to play on a computer all the time, video games, and
we talked over the sky. We didn't we don't know what park O respection
talk of the telegraphs. So I know our money. I was on the
FBI terrorist In October of twenty sixteen, Corey was investigated by a European counter
intelligence agency that believed that Corey was responsible for threats made to a high school
in England, which resulted in over a hundred people being evacuated from the school.
Soon after, Corey caught the attention of the FBI, who interviewed his
parents. Corey's parents explained that Corey was fascinated with dictators like Adolf Hitler and
Joseph Stalin, two horrible dictators that were diametrically opposed politically. The only link
being, of course, extremism. By March of twenty seventeen, the FBI
was closely monitoring Corey's Internet activity, noting that he had a swastika as his
Facebook profile picture and was sharing videos of a Noir all Alaki, an Islamic
leader who encouraged his Muslim followers to kill all Americans without hesitation. Awar was
killed in a US drone strike in twenty eleven, but his extremist, hateful,
and violent teachings remained prevalent even to this day, mostly due to his
fluency in the Englishish language and his I guess you would call it charisma.
You're a young guy. Why are you on The terrorists watch this because they
think I'm going to enjoy hiis. I think I got on the list because
I was just on you too. I was watching videos and I guess you
know any more lucky Yeah, yeah, I guess I assembled onto some of
his videos and then got her attention to this. After Corey started watching these
Islamic videos and encouraging violence and mass murder, the FBI started investigating him,
and they eventually ended up speaking with Corey's friend Kyle. They even warned Kyle
to stay away from Corey. The FBI tune in my house and really well
for me to ask me questions about Corey and then him that I don't know.
They want to say his house about a year and a half ago or
two Okay, they told me like that I should he stay away from And
what did you say? What did you tell them? He's my friend?
Rooms. Despite the FBI's warnings, Kyle maintained a relationship with Corey, which
was a friendship that he would eventually come to regret. As for Corey,
he also didn't take the FBI's interest in him very seriously. He maintained his
extremist beliefs and continued studying the teachings of a War all all a Key,
while frequently sharing those teachings with Kyle. Do you listen to it too?
I listened to it when he's playing, which is how often I go every
day. Not okay, So when you guys sit there and listen to this,
what is it all about? What are they? What are they telling
you? When these things they'd like telling you to go do things too,
infoothills and stuff like that. Yes, he's all into it, and he
told you that he wants to do what they tell him to do as seems
I can't. Yes, And what type of stuff did they tell you to
do? Still? Kill? Yeah, okay, like how John's and nice
okay? And did they tell you specifically how I use the knifecause there's different
ways you can stab right here, stab here and staff here okay, and
that's because of what what would that do? I think it stops you from
screaming here, locking, right, and then the final blue And there's a
lot of that. He was about that, right, I actually have seen
several According to Kyle, Corey had shared several videos with them, and many
of them encouraged violent acts against non believers and anyone who did not adhere to
the Islamic faith. Here. They also don't like cartoons very much, so
there's that. Then came the evening of March eleventh, twenty eighteen. Originally,
Corey had intended to go to work that day, but decided instead to
call Kyle. When he made this call, Kyle was downtown celebrating a friend's
birthday party at a local pizza Rhea. Kyle invited Corey to the party,
and within an hour, Corey showed up. So let's get back to downtown
yesterday. You're there last last evening, right, we're so. I walked
from there because my bike us so I wasn't going a better word, and
so I just walked in downtown. We were mostly walking around. But it
was someone's birthday today. Were you invited or were they just invited you in
when you showed up? Um, they let me sit down and said I
they greeted me, and the parents at this birthday party welcomed Corey and invited
him to join the pizza eating festivities. Before long, Corey was also invited
to sleep over at Kyle's house with the other teenagers. Once there, Corey
took a shower and began watching those extremist videos that he is so very fond
of. Did you guys watch some of that last night? Right? You
guys watched some of that? Corey was watching it. Cory was watching out
its on them like dude stoppling that. Please the other ones we were watching
it too. No, we weren't watching. It was more like listening.
As for the other teenagers that were at the sleepover, none of them took
much interest in what Corey was watching. I suppose that we're probably more interested
in watching trans women dance on TikTok. Kyle even asked Corey to turn that
shit off, but then Corey did and said something that should have set off
some alarms. That's one thing I dogree Roman was saying. And it was
like, I feel like stabbing something, okay, And what was it?
I don't know. So he was he was sitting there watching this Islamic thing
on his phone, then grabbed the knifes and I feel like stabbing something,
right, and he like learning vents after and you said put it away?
H And you was it? Did you get scared a little bit? He
thought he was like just like playing around or he was he serious? I
thought he was playing around? What is it? What kind of knife is?
I think there's too nice. There was a kitchen knife, but it
also had like a a cover for her, like a sheath, like a
yeah, yeah, sheath that goes over it. Yeah? Was it serrated?
Was it just plain edge? You know? What's the difference been that
is so serrated ism when like when you cut like a stag of bread that
has a little teeth on edge, and then the plain edge is just like
a razor. Like I'm not so sure. That night Corey showed the other
teenagers a long, plain edged knife that he recently purchased from a supermarket and
later told Kyle that he felt like stabbing someone. I mean, and we
can't make these red flags any clearer, guys, thinking that Corey was just
being Corey. Kyle didn't think much of it, and eventually he just went
to bed, as did Kyle's mom and the other teenagers. How you just
go to bed when someone in your house says that they feel like stabbing someone.
I have no idea, but apparently this generation is brain dead. Anyway,
just a few hours after that, Corey decided that he was going to
live out his fantasy of quote stabbing someone. Everything was fine, they just
do it. They were listening to music. They were using jewel, which
is a theme. So everybody's sharing the vede. Listen to music. Yes,
okay, what happens up? Okay, No one happens. You do
your thing? Is that he's specific for me, I wasn't there. During
his interview with police, coryus sometimes soft spoken if he didn't catch what he
said there. He told detectives that after everyone went to bed, he did
his thing. That thing was brutally stabbing and attempting to murder everyone inside the
home, starting first with a teenage victim that we have not yet named.
He was Jovanni Sierra, and the birthday party that everyone had just come from
was his Givanni had just turned thirteen years old, and on the morning after
his birthday party, Cory Johnson viciously and methodically stabbed him to death. In
the early morning hours of March twelfth, twenty eighteen, seventeen year old Corey
Johnson was at his friend Kyle's house. Motivated by his strongly held Islamic beliefs,
you know, the religion of peace, Corey decided that he was going
to stab and kill everyone in the house. On the evening before Corey made
this decision, Vanni Sierra, or Geo as he was known, celebrated his
thirteenth birthday. He and a few of his friends played paintball, then they
all went to a pizzeria for dinner. Prior to your son's sleeping over,
I was told that he had a birthday party. Yes, we didn't really
have a plan. We got to know you know what you wanted to do
for this weekend, so I can you start planning this? He had said,
Mommy, I wanted to go to paintball again. Although the arrangements were
somewhat last minute, Geo's mom booked a paintball competition for her son and his
friends before they all ended up at the pizzeria for dinner. Once there,
seventeen year old Corey Johnson and fifteen year old Kyle Bancroft asked if they could
join the dinner party. The other connection that these older teenagers had to Geo
was that Kyle was the older brother of one of Geo's friends. Geo's mom
had never met Corey before, but Geo insisted that the older teens should be
included. We had just a table reserve for twelve. The Giovanni asked his
mom, can can Dan's brother and his friend join us? And I was
like, okay, you know, we only had twelve. But that was
Giovanni. He always wanted everyone to feel welcome. After the pizza party ended,
Geo asked his mom if he could spend the night at the Bancroft house,
which was the same house where Corey intended to spend the night. Geo's
mom was hesitant to allow Geo to go there, but she didn't want to
say no to her son on his birthday. So, Mommy, thank you
so much. This was the best day. I have so much fun.
Thank you so much for doing this for me. I love you so much.
I can come home. I want to, you know, I want
to be the first one to say happy birthdaying you in the morning. I
want to. I want to hug and kiss you, and I have a
little present for you. And He's like, Mommy, I'll be home.
I'll be home, okay, I'll text you after you get off for it.
You can come get me. And so it wasn't pre planned. No,
Geo's mom allowed her son to have his sleepover, and later that night,
when Geo's mom returned home without her son, she was so exhausted from
the day's activities that she went right to bed. Sadly, she had no
idea what horrific events would soon unfold at the home where she had sent her
son. Can you imagine the guilt and heartbreak that night. I was just
so tired when I got home that I you know, I didn't text him.
I didn't say Abery, okay, I mean, you know, are
you guys there? Like I actually my housand was like don't go to sleep
yet, And as soon as we got home, I fell asleep, So
I was tired. After Geo arrived at his friend's house for the sleepover,
the four boys stayed up late, mostly just talking, listening to music,
and secretly bearing a vape pen. Then at about one thirty am, everyone
went to bed, well everyone except Corey Johnson, that is. Instead of
going to sleep, Corey stayed awake and watched his Islamic videos. Then he
unsheathed the knife that he purchased earlier that day and walked over to Geo,
who was fast asleep. Following the instructions he had learned online about how to
best stab and kill someone, Corey began repeatedly stabbing thirteen year old Geo before
ultimately slitting his throat. Did he have an argument with you? Did he
assult you in anyway? Did he solve the song nover? He was one
of the main Like the biggest thing you could do is it could either translate
to polytheism or idolatry. And like just like describing false gods, he's calling
people gods. Did he say that to you? Just generally? He was
talking to me in vain? What made you upset. That's what the room
does, which is how used to hear and stuff like that. Didn't thinking
and read or anything, just like, how did you acknowledge it? Just
in my head? Thing? You didn't want to try and convince someone show
a new point of view, not because people like that generally don't. According
to Corey, his justification for stabbing this boy to death was because earlier in
the night, Geo had referred to celebrities as gods. For followers of Islam,
the worship of anyone or anything other than Allah is known as shirk,
and it's one of the worst sins that a person can commit. No wonder
they hate Western culture. You said he didn't try and convince him. Did
he know about your religious beliefs? Did you know how strong you felt?
No? I hide it because because people you never knew him beforehand. I've
heard about him. I just let him. I'm just trying to figure out
why you would attack him first, afew of the person you met the most
recently, because he's just the easiest. Shamelessly, Corey admitted that Geo was
the easiest target, which was why he chose Geo to be his first victim
of the night. But beyond that, he also felt like Geo was just
an all around bad person. Well, what was going through your mind?
What were you thinking when he's sleeping on the floor. Is it all the
insults to Islam that kind of zolked up? Well, no, it's not
even then, It's just that's one of the reasons. But just just I
know, he's a he's a he's not a good person. You could say
he's not a good person. He does lead, he does stuff with girls,
fornication, and today's was a birthday, he just turned thirteen, and
just a bad person overall. And then he went said people are said people
or whatever are gods, and so just all that stuff together. Keep in
mind Corey had never met Geo before that night, and Geo was the one
that insisted Corey should be allowed to join his birthday pizza party. And Corey's
warped mind, this was the bad person that deserved to be stabbed to death.
And the knife is still in your pocket when you leave the roof the
bedroom, okay, And how did you do it? He was sleeping and
I think I had a knife, bunch of you, and I stabbed him
in the stomach and then he woke up and started screaming? And then is
that what happened? Did you sat him again? Okay? Where everywhere?
Mostly in the negast Hi? And what was he doing to the scream and
trying to say? Was he battling with his hands? Was he telling you
to stop? Was he calling for help? All those stuffs? In reality,
Corey didn't care much about Geo's moral character or who he was as a
person. The kid just turned thirteen. I mean, how much moral character
could you really have at thirteen? Plus Corey had only just met Geo.
They had only known each other for a few hours. How could he possibly
make any kind of meaningful determination about the answer is he couldn't. But we
all make snap judgments about people we don't know all the time, don't we.
I'm talking to you. Think about it. The truth is that Corey's
heart and mind were so poisoned with hatred and horrific ideas that he was willing
and actually eager to kill just about anyone. This poisoning with hatred and horrific
ideas happens all the time via mass media, but young people and anyone with
a serious mental illness are particularly affected, and Corey did have a plan to
stab and kill everyone in the house that night as they slept because of it,
but things didn't go as he planned. As Geo was being stabbed,
he began moaning in pain and screaming for help, which woke up the only
parent in the home. Kyle's mom left her bedroom, and before she could
see what was happening, she called out, asking why the teenagers were still
awake and making so much noise. She's just saying, what's going on?
Was going on because he scaring me? And then she eventually came up the
stairs and she fell down the stairs, and so I guess she ran outside,
and I guess she called the police from there. When Corey attacked Kyle's
mom, he brutally stabbed her twelve times and almost certainly would have killed her
had her other son, Dane, not stepped in to fend off Corey,
after which Kyle's mom ran out of the house to get help, while Dane
and Corey continued fighting each other. Ultimately, Corey got the best of Dane
and ended up stabbing him thirty two times. My hand, my hands were
all blowing, my whole arms, all my clothes were so blood. Then
what happens. I run downstairs into the computer room, and I am At
this point, I was close to the passing out because I was just like
my visions, getting all worried and early stand and I just sat inside the
bathroom for a wile. After stabbing three people countless times, Corey's adrenaline had
started to fizzle out. Poor little extremist. He's getting all tuckered out after
all the stabbies. While covered in the blood of his victims, he walked
into a bathroom closet, sat down and just waited for something to happen.
Eventually, something did happen. The police arrived, ordered Corey out of the
closet and took him into custody. I usually waited there for a while.
Not too much happened until the police showed up. A mini started to come
out. They slee put your hands up and they get on the floor.
So he hit him with the shield and smashed me down the shield and then
they put fia like the wire hankos on me. Kyle's mom and her son,
Dane, were both taken to the hospital. Thankfully, despite the multiple
stab wounds, they both survived the attack, but sadly, the same could
not be said about Jiovanni Sierra. When emergency services finally got to him,
there was nothing anyone could do. He was pronounced dead on the scene and
died on his thirteenth birthday. Meanwhile, Corey was taken to the Palm Beach
Gardens Police Department for questioning, where he gave a straightforward, an honest account
of the horrific things that he had done and also explained why he had done
them, as if it fucking mattered. Palm Beach Garden's police say Dane's older
brother had his friend, Corey Johnson over that night too. Johnson told police
he waited until everyone was asleep around four am to kill Giovanni, Dane,
and Dane's mother. Johnson inspired by his Muslim faith and violently hottest videos which
encouraged killing non believers. After the police were able to piece together some of
the details of this horrific attack and why it had happened, they contacted Geo's
mom and informed her that her thirteen year old son had been murdered. When
the cops were at my work asking me, and I was showing them the
birthday pictures, He's like, you know, Kyle, I didn't even know
Corey's same until we just found out the other day. And you know,
they didn't give me any details right there, So I just I was in
shock, and to be honest, I'm still in shock. Of course.
The murder of Geocierra was completely unexpected, and his mom was understandably left in
a state of shock, but that shock eventually started to wane as she began
to process the vicious and horrific events that resulted in her son's death. He
was so happy, and I never thought in my wildest dream that I would
get the news I got yesterday. I wonder what happened. Did he wake
up screening her, did he die in his sleep or did he feel pain?
About a week after Geo was murdered, a large funeral service was held
in his honor. Among the attendees were several of Geo's school teachers and classmates,
all of whom knew Geo as a kind hearted and talented young boy.
Giovanni's impact and so many lives on our campus has become evident, and speaking
to several of his teachers, there is a resonating theme of Geo as he
was known. The resonnating theme of Geo's character, that theme being that he
loved to help others, from a new student on campus to help in teachers
in the classroom. He was a giver. Now he has given me words
when there are none. Giovanni's creative writing teacher, Miss Screen shared with me
Giovanni's poetry book. I would like to read a few of his poems,
the best day Ever, the best day Ever, a day like never,
sweet sky so high, smiles one every face No, he hidden traits in
his own words. Thank you Geo. At this service, Geo's mom gracefully
spoke to the attendees and attempted to put into words be indescribeable impact that Geo
had on her life. Wow, Giovanni is an angel. Now I know
he's in a better place where he doesn't have to suffer and has no regrets
in whatsoever in his life. I want to speak to you from how Giovanni
impacted my life as a child. I passed through many traumatic situations and things
Giovanni. I became pregnant with Giovanni and found out at the age of seventeen,
I knew there was a purpose for him to be inside me, and
no matter what anybody said, I made the decision to keep my child and
to sacrifice my youth, to give him life and to be my strength.
Giovanni was that was my strength, and any moment that I was down,
his sweet smile looked up at me, and I kept pushing through my life
because of him. As for Geo's killer, when Corey Johnson went to court,
he pleaded not guilty, and his lawyers chose an insanity defense, arguing
that Corey was delusional and psychotic when he began professing an interest in the Muslim
faith, as well as at the time of the stabbings. The case went
to trial in October of twenty twenty one, and during that trial, Corey's
former friend Kyle Bancroft testified against Corey. I wasn't fully aware of what was
going on, but I did somewhat see Corey jumping in the bathroom with a
knife, saying with driving blood, saying that he killed my brother and then
names my room, and he told me I know he joed around a lot,
but this time or not josing. Corey's trial lasted for two weeks,
and when it was over, a jury found Corey was sane. He was
ultimately found guilty of first degree murder and two counts of attempted murder. The
jury only needed about a half day to come to their guilty verdict. Today
now they weren't deciding if Johnson actually killed anybody, but when he did,
was he sane? And today their answer is yes. As a count of
one, would he find a defendant guilty of first murder? A stoic Corey
Johnson as a verdict was read as a motion poured out from the family of
Giovanni Sierra. The States test to find that while Johnson had a rare personality
disorder, he was in fact sane. Ultimately, the jury sided with Richard
Classy and the state. The death penalty is off the table in this case
because at the time of the stabbing, Johnson was seventeen years old, but
it's possible he could be sentence to life in prison. His sentencing will happen
in early January. In January of twenty twenty two, Corey Johnson went before
a judge to receive his sentence, but before that sentence was handed down,
Corey provided a brief statement to the court, and listening to this statement,
it appears that after spending a few years in jail, Corey's beliefs have changed
dramatically. Ms in this little bit absolute not kind city are involved as pologies,
apology machine will happen, polity very delved that one single night sort of
friends, family and the strength exacted people who like a second family as to
stress my own family of the war. Anything is in thirty yeld most pains
and can I be into a painting Monstamma, I wish I could say better,
I wish I could do something this ory, but I but I do
want to apologize because of changing things. Truly am sorry. Sorry, I'm
justin takeing his and his family for no reason and so much potential. I
feel dis believe that I could have done something so terrible. That's not where
I am person. Despite Corey's apology, the judge showed him no leniency and
sentenced Corey to three life terms, one for the murder of Jovanni Sierra and
two more for the attempted murders of Kyle's mom and her son Dane Bancroft.
And The judge pointed out that that Johnson posed for a selfie holding a knife
just minutes before he stabbed Giovanni to death. One of the factors she says
she considered before sentencing him the three life terms, two of them to run
consecutively. The murder of Giovanni Sierra was undoubtedly tragic, especially when you consider
that he was just a young boy that was in the wrong place, at
the wrong time and on his birthday. Nonetheless, for Corey Johnson, it
didn't matter who was on the receiving end of the violence and murder that he
wanted to commit. His beliefs were clear, as was his intent. He
wanted to kill someone. The only requirement was that his victim or victims didn't
subscribe to his beliefs. When you bought the knife, did you have it
in mind that she would have heard the next person and solved or religion?
I guess that was maybe in the back of my mind thinking I could do
something like this. Can you describe it to me now what you were thinking?
What made you take those actions? Then? Well, I just I
wanted to want to hurt some disbelievers. Who are I was just on my
phone and I noticed everyone was asleep, So I figured, was there any
type of formal mental decision on your part to hurt disbelievers in general? Like
prior to that time, or was that just impulse of like at the moment,
wasn't impulsively anyone I wanted to eventually. Beliefs are a funny thing.
Well, some beliefs can be completely harmless. Others can lead to extreme acts
of brutality and bloodshed. For this reason, it's important to regularly challenge our
own beliefs, especially if we find them triggering angry emotions or suggesting some kind
of justification for violence. It isn't quite as easy as it sounds. Challenging
a strongly held belief or even an entire belief system is often very difficult for
people to do. But remember that we can all be fooled. It's important
to pay attention to our intuition, but we should never fully trust it,
and we should always be wary of personal validation. At the same time,
it's important not to rely on a single source of information for our beliefs.
That's how you get into serious trouble. After all, our moral compasses are
guided by our beliefs, and if we're not care full, that compass can
guide us down a path that leads to horrific and tragic consequences. Well,
thank you for joining us once again. We appreciate you being here and I
hope you'll come back to join us once again. Our number is eight nine
six eight five four and put a plus one. If you're international, call
and leave us a message. Let us know what you think of the show.
We hope to hear from you soon, and until next time, remember
to stay safe. Hey, my can. This is Rebecca from Boulder,
Colorado. I've been a long time listener since twenty seventeen and I just want
to say that I guess, like everyone else, this is one of the
best actually podcasts ever. Continue doing what you do. I love that you
kissed everyone off. One of my favorite things to do is to go on
Reddit and look at all of the idiots like freaking out about you and making
you their life. Pretty funny. But yeah, thank you for everything,
man. Yeah, have a great day.